


Smash That Like Button

by caitwritesstuff



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Online Dating, Beauty Guru Victor, Chef Katsuki Yuuri, Fluff and Smut, Internet Chef Yuuri, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Youtuber AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-04-24 20:47:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19181092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caitwritesstuff/pseuds/caitwritesstuff
Summary: Yuuri is an up and coming chef on Youtube that wants nothing more than to stay in his own lane and make cute cooking videos with his sweet doggo. Victor is a popular beauty guru with millions of subscribers and a hidden loneliness that he shields from the public eye. Their worlds collide at VidCon and neither of them will ever be the same.





	1. VidCon Masquerade

[Thumbnail: Vicchan sitting on top of a blue suitcase wearing an adorable chef’s hat. The video’s title ‘Vidcon Announcement’ appears in bold white lettering underneath Vicchan on the lower third of the image’s frame. 0:54 ]

**Vidcon Announcement!!!**

Yuuri Katsuki • 6.7K • 2 hours ago

[Yuuri stands taller than the frame. The star right now is Vicchan with Yuuri holding his front paws up and helping him wave to all of his adoring internet fans. Vicchan dances and wiggles in Yuuri’s hands, tail wagging happily. For this video Yuuri opts to just do a voice over, not feeling up to being on camera on this particular day]

“Hi, guys! Sorry this isn’t the usual Friday recipe video. Vicchan and I currently on our way to our very first Vidcon and didn’t get the chance to film and edit a new video this week! We’re not featured creators or anything, we just wanted to go. If you’re going to be at Vidcon this weekend and you see me, please don’t be afraid to say hi. Vicchan and I will be back on schedule with a new video again next Friday.

Thank you so much for your patience. Have a nice day! Say bye Vicchan.”

[Vicchan yips a few times at the command and the video cuts after a chuckle from the human, almost undetected on the microphone]

* * *

“Can you believe we’re here?” Phichit gushes, holding up his vlogging camera to capture footage of the famed halls of Vidcon.

He’s not the only one to do so as about half of the people they pass by in the convention center halls has a camera or some sort of gimbaled rig clutched in their hands. For Yuuri, it feels like a reminder for how much he doesn’t belong here. He’s not a vlogger, he’s not some guru or influencer. He’s just a guy who cooks with his dog.

His channel has a decent following, more than he ever expected to ever attract when Phichit insisted that he upload the cooking tutorial he filmed for a digital culture class. That first video, despite its terrible quality and on-screen awkwardness, attracted a sizable amount of views and comments for more videos. Yuuri got hooked and now he uploads a weekly recipe and has a nice sum of a hundred thousand followers. It’s nothing to sneeze at but Yuuri’s proud of his little community and is more than happy with his subscriber count.

Yuuri’s roommate, Phichit, on the other hand, is social media’s darling born and bred on Instagram but has found a talent for vlogging that Yuuri is often obligated to make small appearances in as his roommate. If Yuuri goes a week or two without appearing in Phichit’s videos, his subscribers start inquiring which of their apartment closets his body is hidden in. The last time Yuuri looked, Phichit channel was close to reaching eight million subscribers. Yuuri once jokingly agreed to hold the camera while Phichit gets a diamond play button tattooed onto his ass for reaching ten million subscribers. Something tells Yuuri that Phichit wasn’t joking, however.

So how does a shy, reserved, private, guy like Yuuri wind up living a life caught in the middle of the Youtube spotlight? In a million years, Yuuri never thought this would become his life but honestly, he wouldn’t have it any other way. Yuuri likes his life. Living with Phichit certainly never has a dull moment. He has an amazing community behind him, encouraging him to continue with his passion project and showers his dog with love and attention, video after video. If nothing about his channel changed, Yuuri can die happy.

“This is unreal. Pinch me, Phichit.” Yuuri breathes. The convention center is packed with Youtube creators and fans alike. Yuuri, as a general rule, isn’t a fan of crowded places but the atmosphere of the convention is infectious. Yuuri’s shock and awe are disturbed by a sharp pain on his forearm “Ow!” Yuuri cries, rubbing the soreness from his arm.

“You said to pinch you.” Phichit defends himself when Yuuri shoots him a dirty look.

“So who do you think is here?” Yuuri asks, scanning the crowds for the chance to catch an Internet celebrity out in the wild.

“I’d imagine just about anyone who’s anyone. I was planning on meeting up with Chris Giacometti at some point to shoot a video so the bitch better be here. And if Chris is here then Victor probably isn’t far behind,” Phichit says knowingly poking at Yuuri’s side. Yuuri fights back a blush and pretends that he could care less if his favorite Youtube star and major celebrity crush could be a few hundred feet away from him at any given moment. “You know, I could probably pull some strings with Chris to arrange a meet up with Victor.”

“No! It’s ok, Phichit. He’s probably too busy this weekend anyway to even remotely care about meeting some fan.” Yuuri insists. What would he say to the millionaire, style and beauty influencer, Victor Nikiforov?

‘Hi I’m Yuuri and I’ve been watching your videos obsessively for years. I think your dog is cute and your face is nice.’

Yeah, Yuuri thinks not.

“Are you sure?” Phichit hesitates.

“Yeah. This week’s already going to be a lot to handle for me. All these people, all the cameras and networking is going burn me out faster than I’d probably like. I don’t need an awkward meet and greet with my idol to put a damper on my first Vidcon experience.” Yuuri explains.

One of the wonderful things (and by wonderful he, of course, means awful, shitty, exhausting, annoying, etc., name any negative adjective really) about being as introverted and socially awkward as Yuuri is, big events like this take so much energy out of Yuuri just to function whereas social butterflies like Phichit only seem to gain more energy as the day wears on.

Phichit stops Yuuri and pulls him to the side with a comforting hand on Yuuri’s shoulder, “Hey if it gets to be too much and you need to get away to recharge, just let me know. Please don’t feel like you’re obligated to keep up with my pace 24/7. I know all this isn’t your style,”

“I’m fine now, really,” Yuuri reassures, “Thank you for your concern though.”

Phichit gives Yuuri a warm smile before his attention is caught by someone he spotted in the thick crowd, “Speak of the devil and he may appear. Come on Yuuri, I’m going to introduce you to Chris,” Phichit insists. Before Yuuri even had the chance to think about objecting Phichit is already pulling Yuuri’s arm through the crowds to a blond man obscured by a growing crowd of fans.

“Chris!” Phichit calls, catching the man’s attention. Chris turns at his name being called by a familiar voice and smiles brilliantly when he sees Phichit heading his way with a friend in tow.

“Phichit! How are you, darling?” Chris greets, pulling Phichit into a hug and kissing his cheek like some European model greeting a fellow extraordinary starlet. Meanwhile, the crowd of fans watches and grows as the two famous personalities talk like they’ve known each other forever.

“I’m well. We just flew in from Detroit this morning. How are you?” Phichit asks.

“Better once you introduce me to the snack on your arm,” Chris replies, eyeing Yuuri like he wanted to devour him whole.  

“This is my best friend and roommate, Yuuri. Yuuri, this is Chris Giacometti,” Phichit introduced them. Yuuri reaches out his hand to shake Chris’ but Chris takes hold of Yuuri’s hand and presses a flirtatious kiss to his knuckles.

“Charmed,” Chis winks at Yuuri before releasing his hand, “Now, what is your line of work, darling?” Chris asks pointedly at Yuuri, his emerald eyes bore into his soul with analytical precision as if to decode his entire being.

“I have a cooking channel with my dog.” Yuuri answers. A hint of amusement twinkles in the corner of his eye.

“Adorable,” He comments. Yuuri gets the impression that he isn’t referring to Vicchan’s front-and-center presence on his channel. “How long have you had your channel?”

“Just over a year.” Yuuri answers. He feels like he’s being interrogated, or somehow found himself in an unintentional job interview and he isn’t sure if his answers are sufficing.

“What kind of sub count have you seen?” Chris interrogates with interest.

“I just hit 150 thousand a week or two ago,” Yuuri answers honestly. Chris raised an impressed eyebrow.

“Congratulations. That’s really impressive growth for such a young channel. The algorithm isn't usually as kind.” Chris applauds.

Before Yuuri could respond a brave fan steps to the front of the pack of hovering fans and onlookers. She approaches the trio of creators and Yuuri instinctively takes a step to the side, assuming that she had intentions of talking to either of the internet stars by Yuuri’s side.

“I’m so sorry to interrupt, but are you Yuuri Katsuki?” She asks with sheepish nervous energy, looking directly at Yuuri.

Yuuri blinks blankly at her, “M-Me?” Yuuri points to himself before realizing himself that, yes, this fan is indeed here in the crowd for him. “Ah, yes. That’s me. I’m Yuuri Katsuki.” Yuuri stumbles to recover himself.

“Smooth,” Phichit teases. The girl beams at Yuuri and practically explodes with excitement.

“Oh my god! I love your channel so much! Your videos always look so clean and amazing and Vicchan is the cutest dog I’ve ever seen! Has he always liked watching you cook?” She says in a bright energetic whirl of fangirl joy.

“Oh uh . . .” Yuuri rubs the back of his neck, uncomfortable at the sudden targeted attention, “Yeah Vichhan’s always been pretty spoiled. He’s pretty well trained so it wasn’t a huge leap to get him from following me around the kitchen to putting him on the counter to ‘help’ me for videos.”

“Aww!’ She coos in delight. “If you don’t mind, can I get a selfie with you?” The fan asks, fiddling nervously with her phone.

“You want a picture with me?” Yuuri asks. He can practically see Phichit holding back his laughter behind him. Chris just stands there to silently observe what appears to him to be Yuuri’s first fan encounter. It wasn’t for the record, Yuuri was just caught off guard.

“Of course! You’re my favorite Youtuber!” She exclaims. Yuuri’s heart fills with a mixture of pride and disbelief. This is one of his fans. In the flesh. She’s not just a view count or a username. This is someone who knows Yuuri and his passions more intimately than he lets most people uncover in real life. This entire moment is utterly surreal.

Yuuri takes the selfie with his fan. Phichit even offers to take a few glamor shots with his Instagram-guru flair for her. They talk for a few moments, Yuuri answering all the curious questions she has about the behind the scenes details behind his channel. She parts ways with them after Yuuri signs the inside cover of her Vidcon guide.

“Was she your first?” Chris inquires, signing autographs and taking selfies with fans himself.

“You make it sound like he lost his ‘getting recognized in public’ virginity.” Phichit jokes, lightly elbowing Yuuri in the side.

“It’s not the first time someone has recognized me from my videos but it’s usually people I already know in the real world. No one’s asked for a selfie or autograph before.”

“Welcome to the club, darling.” Chris walks over and pats Yuuri on the shoulder.

“Does it ever get old?” Yuuri asks.

“For some people, I suppose fame can get to their head and they become numb to all this. You seem like the type to not let it go to your head.’ Chris comments. “I love new creators. They’re so full of wide-eyed wonder and gratitude. I know too many old hags in this industry that have lost sight of why they started their channels in the first place. High sub counts make people forget that there are faces behind the numbers."

“We should all go out tonight. There’s going to be an exclusive party tonight at Stammi Vicino, influencers and VIPs only.” Chris invites with genuine interest.

“Then why are you invited?” Phichit snarks.

“Charming as ever. Shade aside, the owner of the club and I hooked up a few times. Let’s just say he’s a handjob away from two last minute names making the list if you catch my drift.” Chris brags with a lewd grin.

“You don’t have -” Yuuri starts to decline the invitation but is promptly cut off with a quick jab to the ribs by his tactful friend.

“We’d love to go.” Phichit interrupts giving Yuuri a not-so-subtle side eye. Yuuri doesn’t question Phichit any further. That side eye isn’t something that you just question.

Yuuri’s first day at Vidcon is a whirlwind of experiences. He’s met and shaken so many hands today, or rather Phichit has introduced him to so many internet celebrities. It's almost overwhelming and they haven't even started getting ready for that very VIP event that Phichit insists is an essential part of their Vidcon experience.

In the late afternoon, Phichit drags Yuuri back to the hotel room and he sits obediently as Phichit primps and preens him to perfection. Yuuri has absolutely no idea when he could have packed them both a suit or how he got his hands on two masquerade masks this last minute but Yuuri doesn't question Phichit's uncanny skills.

Yuuri looks at himself in the mirror and almost doesn't recognize himself. Hair slicked back, contacts, and a touch of makeup that Phichit insists highlights all his best features. Putting on the simple black mask completes his transformation and Yuuri finds himself staring at a completely new man masquerading in his skin.

The surreal experience continues when they arrive at the party and stepping out of their uber is met with blinding shuttering of cameras trying to capture an influencer behind a mask. Phichit embraces the brief moment in the limelight and even Yuuri feels comfortable enough behind the mask to strike a few poses with him.

It's a wonder how much the anonymity behind Yuuri's mask emboldens him with confidence he's never had before in his adult life.

“I can't believe this. This is some next level extraness.” Phichit grins gleefully, snagging a fancy hors d'oeuvreves from a passing tray.

“When you see masquerades in movies, you never expect it to be this fancy. I almost feel underdressed.” Yuuri comments, his hand reaching to touch the edge of his comparatively very plain mask. Some of the people in this room went all out, wearing elaborate costumes and intricately decorated masks.

“Don't worry. You look amazing.” Phichit reassures.

“You only say that because you're the one who dressed me.” Yuuri points out as a literal supermodel with an adoring posse slides past him as if it were the most normal thing ever.

“You're fine as fuck Yuuri Katsuki. Don't even start.”

“Hey! Isn't the whole point of the mask that no one knows who others are?” Yuuri hisses, covering Phichit's big mouth with his hand.

“Oh please, most of the people here are passing around business cards. Anonymity is lost on people who make a living becoming the family embarrassment on the internet.” Phichit snarks back.

“My mother loves my videos, I'll have you know.” Yuuri defends.

Phichit tuts and adoringly pinches the soft part of Yuuri's cheek, “My sweet boy, you have the most wholesome content on the internet. Your mother has nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Is this your way of telling me I should make a dick cake for my next video?” Yuuri mumbles between pinched cheeks.

“I'll be the first in line to shove the entire thing in my mouth.” Phichit pats Yuuri's cheek. “Oh, I think I see Chris. That bitch owes me some screen time. Are you good here?”

“I'll just be over at the bar.” Yuuri points over to the corner of the room. He spies an empty seat at the bar and he springs at the opportunity to snag it.

As much as he feels anonymous in his mask, Yuuri still knows he and vast amounts of alcohol don't mix very well. He orders one drink and he intends to limit himself tonight at whatever cost.

Not long after, the bartender hands Yuuri his drink another masked guest slides into the seat beside him and orders a vodka martini. His voice sounds familiar but Yuuri doesn't give it a second thought. Half the people in this room gives off a vaguely familiar vibe.

A glint of glimmering gold catches Yuuri’s attention out of the corner of his eye. Yuuri spares a passing glass to the neighbor in the seat next to him. If Yuuri was already feeling underdressed, the vision that is sitting next to him makes him feel like he showed up in a potato sack. From the neck up Yuuri’s bar seat neighbor is the picture perfect image of an elegant Parisian queen plucked from chaise surrounded by adoring acolytes and servants. Sitting atop his head is a coiffed silver wig perfectly piled on top of his head. The wig has sparkling gems sewn into the tight curls and is streaked with pastel rainbow highlights close to the roots that fade into the silver base. Even though most of his face is obscured by a beautiful golden mask (that is no doubt made from actual gold), it’s easy to tell that his makeup is done flawlessly. His contour can cut glass and his eye makeup both draws you in and judges you for not being worthy of gazing upon such a beauty. Yuuri figures this man must be some sort of makeup youtuber but with the makeup and wig, it would be hard to tell who it is even with the mask off.  

From the neck down he’s dressed like a prince out of a fairytale book. Yuuri had no idea androgyny was his kink but this man wears it well. Yuuri finds it hard to look away from the androgynous beauty.

“See something you like?” The masked androgynous beauty asks, casually waving down the bartender. The bartender seems a little too eager to answer his summons.

“No! I uh . . . yes? I’m sorry I didn’t mean to stare.” Yuuri apologizes, blushing with complete and utter mortification.

“You mean you didn’t mean to get caught?” He teases with a wink.

“I didn’t mean to. You’re just . . . beautiful.” Yuuri admits boldly, his gaze staring intently into his glass. Yuuri’s neighbor falls silent and he regards Yuuri with a thoughtful expression. He stares at Yuuri for a while, long enough for Yuuri to start becoming self-conscious.

“Are you drinking alone tonight?” He asks, breaking the long silence.

“What?" Yuuri asks. He's quite honestly miffed that this man is still talking to him. Yuuri concludes that he must be bored or is trying to yank Yuuri's chain.

“I'm asking if I'm going to be stepping on your partner's toes if monopolize your time for a little while longer.” He rephrases, shifting his seat closer to Yuuri's. From this proximity, Yuuri catches the scent of his clean and masculine cologne. Yuuri is saved from making a further ass of himself when the bartender appears in front of them. He slides his neighbor the vodka martini that he ordered with a wink. Yuuri notices a string of numbers written on the napkin the drink was set on. The masked queen notices it too. He raises a critical eyebrow but otherwise gives no other response, choosing instead to sip gracefully at his drink.

“I'm uh . . . With a friend.” Yuuri finally manages to bring his attention back to the question at hand.

“Shame,” He comments, “What kind of friend would leave someone as adorable as you to be picked over by the masked vultures?”

“Are you implying that you want to pick me over?” Yuuri asks.

“Perhaps.” He teases with a wide playful smirk, “I like to play with my dinner before I take my feast.” He winks,

“What are you drinking? Let me buy you a drink.” He asks. Yuuri nearly jumps back when the masked queen's hand covers his own.

“Oh no, I’m not drinking tonight.” Yuuri raises his glass of water, “I’m a messy drunk and I would rather avoid that in a room full of people who make a living in front of cameras.”

“Smart man,” The man applauds, raising his glass to Yuuri.

“If you don’t mind then, I would enjoy your company for at least a little while.” The man asks, shifting in his seat to get a little more comfortable. He rests his elbow on the bar counter and rests his chin in his hand.

“Don’t know anyone?” Yuuri asks.

“No I do, I just find current company much more pleasant than any fame-hungry leech in this room. No one has recognized me yet and I think I'd like to keep it that way. It’s not often I get a night off from being me.” He shrugs.

So he is famous. Out of morbid curiosity, Yuuri wonders who he could be but decides that if he were in his shoes Yuuri would crave a moment of anonymity too.

“I won't ask for your name but is there something I can call you?” Yuuri inquires. The queen purses his lips and thinks quietly for a moment.

“Call me Vitya.” He insists. He softly runs his thumb along the back of Yuuri's hand. “What can I call you?”

“Whatever you like.” Yuuri answers.

Vitya chuckles softly, “Alright, Eros.”

“Why Eros?” Yuuri inquires.

“You're soft and sweet but I see an erotic fire burning in your eyes. Your sexuality is incredibly magnetic to me, if I may be so bold to say.” Vitya replies honestly. Yuuri blushes at the insinuation that he even had an erotic bone in his body. He doesn't have the heart to protest Vitya's choice.

“So you know who the people behind the masks are?” Yuuri changes the subject, turning his attention to the crowded room of masks, cameras, and smiles. Vitya sips at his martini with a secretive smile. “You do!” Yuuri accuses scandalously. Vitya grins into his glass.

“Who do you want unmasked, my dear?” Vitya sets his glass down, turning his full attention to Yuuri. Yuuri scans the room and finds Phichit among the crowd. A warm up to test his company’s abilities.

“That man over there with the mask that looks like a hamster if you squint at it in the right light.” Yuuri points Phichit out in the crowd.

His drinking partner pauses for a moment before answering, “Phichit Chulanont, vlogger and photographer. He has many adorable little rodents that infiltrate every part of his online presence. Give me a challenge, dear, no reason to go easy on me.” Vitya encourages.

“Ok how about him, then?” Yuuri challenges, pointing to a man in a bright yellow suit wearing an impressive feathered headpiece to conceal his face.

“Leo de la Iglesia. Musician with an extremely loyal following. His fans have been known to tear critics apart and ruin careers.”

“You haven’t been dumb enough to take his fans on, have you?” Yuuri worries. Vitya scoffs, waving away Yuuri's worries.

“Of course not. I value my career far too much.”

“Which is?”

“The same as everyone else in this room. I thrive off the vanity and spotlight and the ad revenue and sponsorships just so happen to be able to pay for my lifestyle.”

“That is the vaguest answer I’ve ever gotten from the question ‘so what do you do for a living?’”

“It’s a masquerade, darling. I don’t often get the opportunity to lay low at such a public event. It’s been many years since I didn’t have to perform a persona for prying eyes.  I’m enjoying being anonymous, if only for tonight. Will you indulge me?”

“I suppose that’s a reasonable enough request, Vitya.”

“Good, now if you’ll allow me, I’d like to risk all of that by asking you to dance with me,” Vitya says, offering his hand to Yuuri.

“Dance?” Yuuri says, already reaching for Vitya’s hand despite his disbelief. Vitya wraps his hands around Yuuri’s fingertips and lifts his hand to press a light kiss against Yuuri’s knuckles. Yuuri blushed furiously but makes no move to pull away.

“Sweep me off my feet, my Eros.” Vitya requests.

Yuuri is having a hard time voicing what it is about Vitya that has him so magnetized to him. When his painted lips smile, Yuuri’s heart skips a beat. When his hand touches him, it feels like it was always meant to be there. When Vitya speaks, it feels like his words are only meant for Yuuri. If meeting Vitya felt even a fraction of a bit real, he might be saddened that they know nothing about each other. No names, no Instagram handles, even Vitya’s true appearance is a mystery to Yuuri behind the mask and feminine makeup. But somehow all the things Yuuri doesn’t know about Vitya right now doesn’t matter. All he knows is tonight, however long that might be, they’re together and Yuuri really wants to dance with Vitya.

Yuuri confidently grips Vitya’s hand and pulls him out to the dancefloor. The full skirt attached to the back of Vitya’s suit flares out and billows behind them. The crowd parts for the couple and the world seems to stop when Vitya takes Yuuri into his arms.

There’s that magnetism again. As soon as Yuuri spares a glance up he’s trapped in Vitya’s chilling blue eyes. The world melts away and the crowd that is no doubt staring them down ceases to exist. It’s just Vitya and Eros, nothing else matters.

They dance to the slow rhythmic beat of the band but the dance they make is to a different song entirely. It’s intoxicating and sensual and entirely all their own. They dance close as if nobody's watching. Yuuri’s hand is glued the small Vitya’s waist and Vitya’s hold on Yuuri is tighter than any dance partner he’s ever had before.

Somewhere off in the distance, Yuuri hears a crowd cheering and whistling as Yuuri turns Vitya into a dip. As if he were suddenly reminded where they were, Vitya’s gaze breaks away from Yuuri’s to the group of spectators with cameras and his expression stiffens. Yuuri pulls Vitya out of the dip and holds him close.

“You should run very far away from me Eros,” Vitya mumbles against Yuuri's shoulder. His voice doesn't have that same air of confidence and swagger that it did at the bar. Somehow, at some point, the Vitya that Yuuri had been enchanted with shifted and the cold sadness in his voice splinters Yuuri's heart.

“Why would I run?” Yuuri holds Vitya closer.

“What reason do you have to stay?” Vitya lifts his head from Yuuri's shoulder. There's something lonely in his chilling blue eyes. Right now Yuuri can't imagine ever running from this man.

“Do I need a reason?” Yuuri challenges.

Vitya purses his lips skeptically, “I suppose not.”

Now Yuuri isn't usually the most socially adept person in the room but something in his gut tells him there's something under Vitya's skin that's put him on edge since meeting Yuuri.

“What's wrong?” Yuuri asks outright.

“I'm usually good at reading people but you make me wonder, Eros. Usually, people only give me the time of day when they want something but you don't know me. I can't fathom what you could see in me without a face or name. Yet here you stay.” Vitya explains.

“Vitya, you are fascinating and charming and colorful. I can’t see how anyone wouldn’t be drawn to you.” Yuuri argues, holding Vitya’s hand tightly. Vitya glances down at their joined hands and smiles softly.

“You, Eros, are one of a kind.” Vitya shakes his head with disbelief. Vitya reaches his free hand up and softly strokes the edge of Yuuri’s mask with the pad of his thumb. “What I wouldn’t give right now to see who you are behind your mask.”

“I’m nobody.” Yuuri shakes his head. Out of the two of them, Vitya is the only one that stands to lose something if he’s unmasked. Yuuri might as well be just another face in the crowd.

Vitya shakes his head, “You are so much more than nobody.”

Silence falls between them and the air becomes thick with a new warm tension growing Viya shifts forward and dips his head down closer to Yuuri’s level. One part of Yuuri’s heart freezes, paralyzed with anxiety over the expectation and uncertainty of what he should do, what’s supposed to happen next. Another, stronger, part instinctually follows Vitya’s lead and his head cranes up to meet Vitya’s.

Just before Yuuri's lips can brush against his own Vitya whispers, “Not here.”

Suddenly, the world filters back into vision and Yuuri realizes where they are: A crowded nightclub during a convention crawling with cameras and internet starlets. Across the room, Yuuri sees Phichit watching them by Chris’ side with an awestruck look on his face. No doubt he’s thinking to himself that he won’t be able to leave Yuuri alone for five minutes ever again. Chris has a smug grin that he’s hiding behind his glass of vino.

Before Yuuri can even consider rethinking everything in the evening that led up to this moment, Vitya grabs a hold of Yuuri’s hand and pulls him out the nearest door.

“Where are we going?” Yuuri asks trying not to step on the train of billowing fabric blowing out behind Vitya’s slim hips.

Vitya looks back over his shoulder and throws Yuuri a suggest wink, “Somewhere I won’t have to share you with any prying eyes.”

“Oh!” Yuuri gasps, realizing Vitya’s intentions. Yuuri can’t say the thought of Vitya sweeping him away from the party just so he could ravish him in a private hotel room doesn’t excite him. In fact, he finds it very exciting.

Throughout their journey, Vitya has his arm hooked through Yuuri’s and rests his head against his shoulder as he guides Yuuri back to his hotel. Despite the rush to get out of the nightclub, Vitya seems to enjoy taking the time to be as close to Yuuri as humanly possible.

As it turns out Vitya is staying in the same hotel as Yuuri is, he realizes as he walks arm and arm with Vitya through the lobby. Yuuri wonders if they’ve unknowingly run into each other but doubts it considering it’s a large hotel and as of yet, Yuuri’s spent very little time in the room. If Vitya is as well known as Yuuri suspects, he doubts Vitya would want to spend much time, if any, in the public spaces of the hotel. Yuuri considers mentioning the small coincidence of their similar choice in hotels but decides against it. He doesn’t want to break the fantasy if Vitya is just running high on the anonymity of the night.

Vitya pulls Yuuri into the elevator and spams the close button before anyone else could slip in beside them. As soon as the metal doors close Vitya embraces Yuuri and pushes him up against the mirrored surface of the elevator. Yuuri lets out a small surprised noise when he feels Vitya’s tongue slide against his own.

In the anxious part of Yuuri’s brain warning flags are going off. He’s never had a one night stand before. Boyfriends? Yes. Sex? Absolutely. But surely Vitya expects this to be some fleeting thing, just a Vidcon hookup that he can tell sordid stories about later on. This is new territory for Yuuri. He doesn’t want to stop but he can’t help wondering what happens when morning comes? Surely this registers as less than a blip on Vitya’s radar. He probably finds some easy boy to hook up with at every major appearance he makes.

No - Yuuri halts his thoughts. That doesn’t sound like the Vitya he’s come to know. Vitya is sweet and heartfelt. He doesn’t seem like a hump and dump kind of guy but yet Yuuri doesn’t know how much a relationship can be built on a night of anonymous passion.

Sensing Yuuri’s hesitance, Vitya pulls back and rests his forehead against Yuuri’s. “If you don’t want this, tell me now.” Vitya breathes. His breath brushes against Yuuri’s lips, teasing a promise of more if only he gives into temptation.

“I want this,” Yuuri admits.

Vitya’s expression softens and he tenderly strokes Yuuri’s cheek, “Oh my sweet Eros.” He leans forward and delicately captures Yuuri’s lips with his own, “You’re thinking too much. Tonight, let’s just forget about the world.”

The elevator dings with each level until it reaches Vitya’s floor. They break away from each other’s embrace just long enough to frantically stumble down the hall to Vitya’s room. Even then Yuuri’s lips explored the back of Vitya’s neck as he fished and fumbled for his hotel key. As soon as he managed to open the door, it was shut again with Yuuri pressing Vitya up against the door inside the room.

They are alone now.

Vitya moans into Yuuri’s mouth and grinds his hips against where Yuuri had his pressed against the door. The pressure of Vitya’s firm body pressed against his has an immediate effect on Yuuri. Warmth pools in the pit of his stomach, his sanity hazes over with lust, and his pants grow significantly tighter.

“Take me to bed, Eros,” Vitya whispers against Yuuri’s lips with a hint of a moan lingering in his voice, his pupils wide with lust from behind the golden mask.

“Your wish is my command, Vitya,” Yuuri says, simultaneously lifting Vitya and wrapping his long limbs securely around Yuuri’s body. With all the care and attention Yuuri has in him, he walks them the short distance to the bed and sets Vitya down lovingly among the pillows. With an outreached hand Vitya beckons Yuuri to follow into bed after him which Yuuri is happy to oblige.

Without much hesitation, Vitya fumbles eagerly with ridding Yuuri of his clothes. When he gets Yuuri down to his boxers he pauses to run his thumb along the edge of Yuuri’s mask but makes no move to relieve Yuuri of his anonymity.

“Do you want me to... ?” Yuuri asks making a motion to take off his mask. Vitya catches Yuuri’s hand and shakes his head slowly.

“Can we keep the masks on? It’s not you, I promise. I’d adore you no matter what you look like.” Vitya says in the most genuine way that Yuuri would absolutely believe him.

“So what are you afraid of?”

“Me. I’m afraid that if you recognize me, this will change.” Vitya says, softly gesturing between them, “I know it's selfish of me to ask but can we live this fantasy a little longer?” Vitya pleads. How can Yuuri possibly have the heart to say no? Vitya clearly has some deep seeded insecurities about his identity, and Yuuri has no shortage of his own issues as well. If a mask is what brings Vitya comfort then so be it. Yuuri feels like he’s known Vitya for a hell of a lot longer than just a few hours. Normally Yuuri’s alarms bells should be going off with Vitya’s closely-guarded identity but his rational feels like this is an exception.

“Think nothing of it.” Yuuri insists, capturing Vitya's lips with his own once more. All conversation falls to the wayside and the hotel room is instead filled with the soft wet sounds of their lips colliding and quiet muffled moans swallowed by each other's tongue.

Yuuri breaks away to momentarily catch his breath but becomes distracted by a bead of sweat that rolls down Vitya's neck and pools in the hollow of his collarbone. Yuuri becomes overwhelmed with the urge to lick it and does nothing to prevent himself from immediately doing so. Yuuri bends his head down and kisses along the ridge of Vitya's collarbone before indulging himself in flicking his tongue out to swipe away the moisture.

“Eros,” Vitya gasps, arching his neck go give Yuuri better access. Yuuri lavishes attention onto Vitya's neck and lovely blush stained bare chest.

‘He’s a chest blusher,’ Yuuri thinks to himself with amused adoration. The pink flush on Vitya's pale chest only serves to make his pert rosy nipples all the more mouthwatering to Yuuri. Curiously, Yuuri's hand reaches out and he runs the pad of his thumb against Vitya's hardened left nipple. Yuuri can’t help the pleased smirk on his face when a pleasured gasp escapes Vitya's pretty kiss reddened lips. Yuuri capitalizes on his discovery and bends his head to take Vitya's nipple into his mouth. The moan that escapes Vitya's lips is almost as sweet as the taste of his skin on Yuuri's tongue.

“Does that feel good Vitya?” Yuuri breaks away to catch a quick breath of air while his hand continues to toy with Vitya.

“Mmmm,” Vitya hums pleasantly, his hand slipping into Yuuri's boxers to not be the only one in bed teasing, “I'd like to see what else your tongue can do,” Vitya purs in Yuuri’s ear. A shiver runs down Yuuri’s spine from the combination of lust in Vitya’s voice and his soft palm giving his cock long firm strokes.

Yuuri is all too happy to oblige in Vitya’s wishes. Ever so slowly Yuuri trails kisses down Vitya's body until he comes to the waistband of Vitya's thong. The head of Vitya's cock pokes out from its constraints, weeping for attention. He's already stiff and flushed a mouthwatering rosy color. Yuuri just can't help himself from indulging in just a small taste. Yuuri presses a soft kiss at the partially clothed cock and hooks his thumbs around the strings of the thong. Yuuri slowly pulls Vitya's thong down, making sure to acquaint himself with each new millimeter of his partner's exposed skin.

Vitya’s cock springs free and Yuuri gets his first decent look at what’s in store for tonight. Now, Yuuri’s never been one to casually throw around dramatics but Vitya’s penis is the prettiest dick Yuuri’s ever had the pleasure to be so tantalizingly close to his mouth. It’s long and smooth and curved ever so slightly. The shaft is creamy pale like the rest of Vitya’s flawless skin but the erect head is a beautiful dusky rose, similar to the shade of his nipples.

“Wow.” Yuuri breathes as he guides Vitya’s aching cock to his greedy lips. Vitya gasps as his cock is enveloped by the wet heat of Yuuri’s mouth and his fingers thread through Yuuri’s hair as if his hold on reality relies on it.

“Oh, Eros. Your mouth feels heavenly.” Vitya moans.

Yuuri takes Vitya’s encouragement and doubles down, sucking and licking Vitya in trying to draw out more moans from his beautiful lips. Each whimper and delighted cry is music to Yuuri’s ears. The man beneath him is a masked sexual demigod and Yuuri is utterly intoxicated by his magnetic sensuality. He wonders what he ever did to catch the eye of such a brilliant shooting star. Is Yuuri really worthy of such a beauty’s attention?

“Vitya, I want you so bad.” Yuuri pleads, never ceasing his stroking of Vitya. Vitya lets out a drawn-out moan that rumbles from deep in his chest.

“Please dear lord yes!” Vitya consents emphatically, his hand moving from Yuuri’s hair to tenderly stroke Yuuri’s cheek

“How do you want me?” Yuuri asks.

“Please say that I can ride you, Eros. I want nothing more than for you to completely and utterly wreck me.” Vitya pleads with those wide blue eyes like there’s nothing he wants nothing more in the world than to be speared by Yuuri’s cock. Yuuri can’t say he’s inclined to disappoint him.

A proud smile finds its way to Yuuri’s lips and he leans down to recapture Vitya’s sweet lips in a slow lingering kiss. By this point, Vitya’s lipstick is beyond smeared but he’s still the most stunning man Yuuri’s ever laid eyes on. He imagines that Vitya’s kisses have stained Yuuri’s lips with its telltale possessive mark.

“I’m yours, Vitya. Take me however you like.” Yuuri offers himself up for Vitya’s pleasure. Vitya smiles against Yuuri’s lips.

“Brave words. I’ll warn you I’m an insatiable lover. Do you think you can keep up?” Vitya teases.

“I’ve been told I have good stamina.” Yuuri retorts back.

“Mmmm,” Vitya hums against Yuuri’s lips, “I’ll be the judge of that.” He challenges playfully. Vitya hitches his long leg around Yuuri’s waist and with one smooth movement he flips them so that Vitya is above Yuuri, straddling his hips. With a smug little smile on his kissable lips, he runs his hands down Yuuri’s bare chest, his golden mask glimmering in the dim light of the hotel room. “You look so pretty beneath me, Eros”

“Don't get too used to the view up there. It's my turn next.”

“Oooh so presumptuous!” Vitya laughs, grinding his hips down against Yuuri's hard cock. “Your stamina must be impressive if you're going around making bold promises like that.”

“Are you saying that you're against having a taste of your own medicine?”

“Absolutely not. I'm a man of many shades. I have no qualms about being power bottomed by a sexually powerful being.” Vitya leans down and playfully takes Yuuri’s bottom lip between his teeth briefly before releasing with a smug smirk.

“I'll keep that in mind,” Yuuri notes, his bottom lip still stinging slightly. “I have a condom. Do you have any lube?”

“Top drawer next to the Bible.” Victor answers.

Yuuri reaches for the drawer, struggling only slightly with Vitya’s unwillingness to release Yuuri from underneath him. Yuuri is able to eventually pull out a bottle of lube from the drawer, all the while Vitya impatiently teases Yuuri with small grinding rotations of his hips and light strokes to his cock. If he wasn’t so turned on right now, this man’s stubbornness to move might be infuriating.

No sooner than Yuuri retrieved it, Vitya takes the bottle of lube from his hands and starts preparing himself with newly lubricated fingers. Yuuri isn’t ashamed to admit he feels kind of left out just sitting there and watching while his partner does all the work.

“Can I help?” Yuuri asks, his hands rubbing small circles into Vitya’s hips. Vitya’s fingers freeze inside himself and he looks back at Yuuri with surprised bewilderment.

“Oh, usually I just do this part myself,” Vitya explains. ‘I’ve never had a partner offer before.” He admits with an embarrassed blush.

“I’m offering.” Yuuri encourages once again.

What sort of shitty partners has Vitya been subjected to if none of them were at all interested in foreplay? Yuuri might not be that experienced in the way of sexual exploits but all of his previous partners at the very least had the common decency to care about his pleasure enough help him stretch before the main event and he returned the favor when he found himself in a switched position like he is now. Yuuri is saddened at the realization that Vitya has likely only ever had half-hearted partners that weren’t interested in making sure his experiences were as pleasurable as theirs.

“You are so full of surprises, Eros.” Vitya smiles, taking Yuuri’s hand and guiding it to join Vitya’s slick fingers.

Yuuri takes the bottle of lube and thoroughly covers his index finger. Vitya resumes stretching himself and Yuuri joins by massaging his slick finger against Vitya’s tight rim until he’s relaxed enough for Yuuri to slowly work one finger into Vitya alongside the two digits he was already fucking himself on. Vitya lets out an audible gasp when he feels Yuuri’s finger start to work in tandem with his own. Yuuri watches Vitya’s features carefully for any hint of pain or discomfort, only finding expressions of pleasured desperation.

“How do you feel?” Yuuri asks.

“So good, Eros!" Vitya breathes, "Please . . . I want more." He begs.

Yuuri obliges and carefully works a second finger into him. Vitya opens up for him beautifully. He's an erotic moaning and Yuuri takes pride knowing that he's the one bring such intense pleasure to Vitya.

"You're magnificent, Vitya." Yuuri praises. Vitya arches into Yuuri and lets out a long moan as Yuuri’s fingers repeatedly hit a sensitive spot deep inside of him. Yuuri is awestruck by the sexual being writhing and moaning beneath him. Never in his wildest dreams did he think this would be how he spent his first night at his first ever VidCon but here he is and he doesn’t regret a single thing.

“Please Eros, enough teasing me,” Vitya begs. “I want you.” He implores, his cool blue eyes bearing down on Yuuri’s soul so full of heat and passion that he would be compelled to follow him no matter the command.

Yuuri pulls out his fingers and reaches for the condom he always has stowed away in his wallet. Vitya immediately takes it from him and rips the package open with his teeth. It's by far the sexiest way Yuuri’s ever seen a partner open up a condom wrapper but then again that might be lust and anticipation clouding his judgment.

“Just one?” Vitya teases with a raised eyebrow as he rolls the condom slowly down the length of Yuuri’s cock.

Yuuri blushes, “I guess we’ll have to make this one count.” He says. Vitya grins.   

“Don’t you worry about that. I have plenty more where that came from.” Vitya purs, his voice lowering to a whisper.

He’s such a tease.

Vitya squeezes a healthy dollop of lubricant into the palm of his hand and strokes his slick hand along the length of Yuuri. When he’s satisfied that Yuuri is sufficiently ready for him, Vitya readjusts himself to line Yuuri up with his well-stretched entrance. But before he can sink onto Yuuri, Vitya pauses and looks up at Yuuri, his blue eyes vulnerable behind the gilded mask.

“Be gentle with me?” Vitya asks underneath his eyelashes.

“Of course. I would never want to hurt you Vitya.” Yuuri reassures, gently. The fact that he has to reassure Vitya that he’ll be a decent caring partner breaks his heart. It hurts Yuuri to think of anyone just using Vitya for their own pleasure without thought or consideration to Vitya. Has he had partners that were only with him for his fame? Or perhaps his beauty? Now isn’t the time to ask but Yuuri makes a promise to himself that for tonight he will be the most attentive partner he can be so that Vitya may remember this night fondly. Even if they part ways at the end of the evening.

Vitya smiles softly at Yuuri’s answer and takes his word as a promise. Ever so slowly, he impales himself onto Yuuri’s cock. Yuuri resists the urge to take control or thrust up into his slick heat. Vitya should go at this at his own comfortable pace, at least until he’s gotten adjusted to the intrusion.

Vitya bites his lower lip and crinkles his eyebrows together in discomfort as he adjusts to Yuuri. Yuuri finds the expression to be the cutest thing he’s ever seen on a man’s face in the heat of sex. Soon enough the discomfort washes away and is replaced once again by lust and need as Vitya begins to slowly rock his hips and tentatively bounce on Yuuri’s lap. Rather than submitting to his urge to meet Vitya’s gentle experimental thrusts, Yuuri’s hands lightly dig into the rounded flesh of his pert ass.

“I said be gentle, not treat me like a porcelain doll,” Vitya commands as his thrusts become a little more sure and rhythmic.

“Are you sure?” Yuuri asks.

“Yes,” Vitya says with a great air of confidence. “Please fuck me, Eros. You can fuck me and still be gentle.”

Yuuri takes that as his cue to start letting go of his carefully measured control. He starts by meeting Vitya’s thrusts with his own firm upward snap of his hips. The first time he does it, Vitya throws his head back and moans into the empty air of the hotel room.

“Yes, Eros!” Vitya cries, “Just like that.” he pleads.

Yuuri continues to match Vitya’s pace and soon enough the room is filled with the sounds of skin meeting skin, breathy moans, and the wet telltale sounds of lube meeting flesh. With each subsequent thrust of Yuuri’s hips, Vitya comes closer and closer to release and his thrusts lost control as he lets go into wanton abandon.

“Eros!” Vitya calls into the night. Vitya’s so close to coming, he’s practically vibrating with anticipation. Yuuri grabs him by the hips and with as much momentum as he can muster without sliding out of Vitya, Yuuri switches their positions so that he was on top of Vitya with the man’s legs wrapped securely around him. Yuuri continues to thrust into Vitya, enjoying the view he had of the man's body shifting underneath him with each strong thrust of his hips.

“You’re so beautiful, Vitya.” Yuuri breathes with wonder against the skin of Vitya’s collarbone. Vitya’s only response is to weave his fingers tightly through Yuuri’s hair to hold onto whatever reality he seemed to have found himself in.

With a cry of pleasure, Vitya spills his seed onto his stomach between them. With each further thrust of his hips, the tip of Vitya’s cock rubs against Yuuri and smears his stomach with Vitya’s come as well. Yuuri follows Vitya not long after, coming into the condom with a choked back grunt. They stay connected like that until both their breathes even out and they come down from the high of what they’d just done.

Yuuri pulls out of Vitya and before he has the chance to get up and throw the condom away, Vitya catches hold of his hand.

“Please stay?” Vitya pleads.

“I will.” Yuuri leans forward and presses a soft kiss to Vitya’s temple. “Just let me toss this and get a washcloth to clean us up.” Vitya nods and releases Yuuri to go about his aftercare duties.

Yuuri comes back to bed and Vitya is there with his knees tucked against his chest, staring off blankly into space. His long since tangled wig is thrown to the side of the bed, revealing his real hairstyle of short ash blond, almost silver, hair. It’s hard to tell in the dim lighting of the hotel room if it's natural or not. The golden mask is still firmly in place, reminding Yuuri of his own, much simpler black mask still secured to his face.

Yuuri crawls back into bed and places a gentle hand on Vitya’s shoulder, “Are you alright?”

“Never better,” Vitya reassures with a smile, but there’s a sadness lurking behind the reassurance. Before Yuuri can pry any further, Vitya slides closer to Yuuri and cuddles against his side. “Thank you for tonight.” He murmurs, his eyes slipping closed.

And just like that, the night ends. Vitya’s adorable soft snores fill the silence of the room and Yuuri is stuck awake in his head wondering what changed with Vitya between him going to the bathroom and coming back to bed. Did Vitya regret sleeping with him? Was it not as good for him as Yuuri thought it was? Was he too eager? Was Vitya just looking for a casual hookup and Yuuri came off too clingy? Vitya asked him to stay but does that mean anything? Maybe he’s just using Yuuri to fill some sort of interpersonal void.  

Yuuri audibly sighs and shifts them to lay down fully into the bed. He’s no good at this. Sex. Hookups. One night stands. Whatever you want to call this. What is even expected of him in the morning. Does Vitya want him gone sometime before he wakes up to avoid a clearly awkward conversation, or does he expect a short coffee date before they inevitably go their merry ways?

Yuuri doesn’t know what Vitya expects of him but given how tightly the man has his arms wrapped around Yuuri’s side, he knows he can’t move without waking Vitya. So his decision is unknowingly made by Vitya. He’ll stay the night at least. Maybe sneak out early in the morning.

With his decision made, Yuuri takes his mask off and sets it on the night table closest to his side of the bed and does the same with Vitya’s, too tired to comprehend the action or take the time to absorb Vitya’s true identity. Not that he cares who he is at this point. To Yuuri, he’s Vitya and that name will forever be ingrained in his memory when he thinks back on this night.

Yuuri covers their entwined bodies with the duvet and Vitya’s body heat pressed into his side lulls him into a deep slumber.

That night Yuuri dreams of blue eyes behind a golden mask and hair the color of moonlight.


	2. Chapter 2

Snapchat: 

Victor Nikiforov ★

24m ago

#wokeuplikethis

[A short five-second loop plays on millions of phone screens around the world. Victor smiles and tilts his head to the side and flashes a practiced tired smile. Victor looks like absolute shit; makeup slightly smeared from the night before but somehow miraculously not too out of place (DMs asking for his setting spray fill his various inboxes), hair tousled from some unspoken bedroom activity, and a relaxed blissful demeanor in his body language. The video ends with an unintentional flash over Victor’s shoulder of a masculine back and dark, equally tousled hair of a man occupying the space next to Victor in bed. The identity of the mystery man is well hidden, sparking an internet debate storm.] 

 

Twitter: 

United States Trends • Change

  **#MysteryMan**

25.3k Tweets 

**Victor Nikiforov**

19.7k Tweets

**#VidCon**

7.8k Tweets

**#BestHookupIEverHad**

4.9k Tweets

**#AriaFinale**

4.7k Tweets

 

| #MysteryMan hashtag on Twitter |

 

**Twitter Moments** ✔ @TwitterMoments • 1m

 YouTube beauty community catches a dark-haired #MysteryMan in Victor Nikiforov’s bed on his SnapChat. Who is the king of beauty’s newest flame?

[Still image of the clearest moment that the mystery man appears in the SnapChat. All that’s visible is dark tousled hair and a pretty mid to light-toned back. It’s enough to have the internet sleuths foaming at the mouth to unmask the identity of the mystery man]

* * *

 

Completely oblivious to the digital world erupting around him, Victor tosses his phone to the nearby chair facing the bed shortly after making a morning post to his public Snapchat. He has a beautiful man by his side, a lovely ache from a night of passion, and absolutely no incentive to leave this hotel bed ever again. The only reason he documented this morning was to convince himself that last night actually happened. 

Eros is . . . beyond words. When Victor met Eros at that bar, a part of him decided then and there to be swept away despite his cautious common sense screaming against everything his heart wanted. Eros was so sweet and tender with him. It’s been too long since a man made him feel cared for and desired, no strings attached. 

Victor does this. He leaps heart first into relationships that inevitably disappoint him. They always want something from him that the real Victor Nikiforov can’t give, whether that be fame or fortune or unconditional, all-consuming love at the expense of his own identity. When the honeymoon phase wears off, Victor is always left with this numb feeling. He’ll wake up and catch a glance of himself in the mirror and find himself wondering when his life stopped belonging to himself yet again. He’ll then move on from the relationship, wind up at some bar or lackluster event, meet some guy that sparks a hint of electricity back into his life. Wash and repeat. 

But Eros feels so different from the other men Victor’s been with. He doesn’t look at Victor like _Victor Nikiforov_ the famous internet celebrity. For the first time in forever, Eros looks at him he’s just Victor, some guy he met at a bar and had an amazing night with. 

It's refreshing and he wants nothing more than to preserve this moment, Eros sleeping peacefully in his arms, for as long as possible. With the masks now off, there's no telling what kind of man Eros is.

Victor looks to the two masks sitting on the bedside table and contemplates how this morning will play out. Eros took off their masks last night after Victor fell asleep, surely by now he recognized Victor, and yet . . . why did he stay? Does he not care or is he so disconnected from everything but his own corner of the internet that he still doesn’t know who he is? Victor doesn’t recognize Eros’ face so that could be a possibility.

As Victor sees it, they have a few options for how this morning could turn out. Victor could stay here in bed and wait for Eros to wake up and they talk right here in bed before they have to go back to reality and their responsibilities at VidCon. But that leaves Victor in the situation of wooing his Eros in broad daylight with last night’s smeared makeup. He could also take this time early in the morning before Eros wakes up to go through a shortened morning routine so he has every chance to make a good second impression. 

Victor comes to the decision that he wants the chance to talk and maybe go out for coffee which requires a clean face in order not to scare away his suitor. The prospect of the morning excites Victor. It’ll be just the two of them, just Victor and . . . and he doesn’t know Eros’ real name. 

Well, that’s something Victor can easily remedy after a quick shower. 

Victor reluctantly slips out of bed and pads over to the bathroom. The wonderful thing about spending the night being fucked by a lovely man is it takes out the extra step of having to disrobe for his morning shower. Victor wastes no time in hopping into the shower and only lingers in the warm water for a few moments longer than he has to. He’s eager to get back to his Eros. 

Is Eros even a morning person? How does he take his coffee in the morning? Or is he a more of a tea person? Where does he live? What are his hobbies? What are his friends like? 

Victor has so many questions about Eros and he’s so eager for the opportunity to get to know him better. 

Victor quickly towels off and hastily goes through a morning routine of skin care products that were neglected the night before and some light hair products. When he was satisfied with his au naturel presentation, he braces himself to face Eros. 

This is it. It’s the morning after and what happens as soon as he opens this door will determine where they go from here. Victor contemplates if he should forego the towel loosely tied around his waist. They’ve already been intimate together but would Eros be comfortable enough around him for Victor to be so open? Victor’s had partners before that didn’t enjoy nudity beyond a purely physically intimate scene. 

Just to be safe, Victor keeps the courtesy towel around his waist. 

Victor pushes the door open, excited to start the day with Eros. His heart is hammering in his chest and his mind is running wild wondering what question he’ll ask Eros first. Clearly, ‘ _What name can I put on the marriage certificate?_ ’ is on the top of his list but beyond that, there’s so much more he wants to know about his newly found lover. 

But Victor soon realizes it was never meant to be. When Victor opens the bathroom door his heart sinks to find Eros’ side of the bed empty, nothing but wrinkled sheets as proof that he was even here at all. Not only has the man himself vanished but so has his clothes from the night before as well as Victor’s golden masquerade mask. All Victor has left of the mystery man was the simple black mask that he must have left behind in his hastiness to leave before Victor got out of the shower. 

Victor silently walks over to the night table and picks up Eros’ mask and sits on the edge of the bed. 

The only thought consuming Victor’s mind is Why. Why did Eros run? They had such a lovely night together and he stayed only to flee when Victor had his back turned. Does Eros really think him that weak that he had to avoid a morning confrontation? Was he just not as interested in Victor as he thought Eros was? Victor doesn’t know where he went wrong, what signals he missed. He thought they had great chemistry together but perhaps not as much as Victor had hoped. 

Victor doesn’t realize he’s crying until a bead of wetness runs down his thumb, painfully gripping Eros’ mask. His eyes sting, his hands are slightly trembling, and tightness has found its grip on his chest. 

_I don’t understand._

Victor slams the mask into a side drawer and presses his closed fists against his face. He takes a few calming breaths, shoves all of his negative emotions to the side, wipes away his tears, and continues on with the motions of his morning routine feeling more cold numbness than he’s had for years. 

_This is fine. Nothing has changed anyway._

* * *

[Thumbnail: A cute selfie of Phichit and Yuuri posing with their masquerade masks.  Phichit grins wide in his vaguely rodent shaped mask that looks hauntingly like one of his more photogenic hamsters back in Detroit. Yuuri’s smile is a bit shyer and he poses in his plain black mask with a generic peace sign. 17:38 ]

**VIP VIDCON MASQUERADE**

Phichit Chulanot • 1.4M • 12 hours ago

 

[The video opens with a shot of Phichit and Yuuri’s shared VidCon hotel room. Yuuri is already sitting cross-legged on the bed, Switch in his hand, and Mario Cart in full swing. Phichit sneaks up behind Yuuri who is in full game mode. Phichit switches the video to reveal his mischievous grin as he leans in closer to an oblivious Yuuri.]

“WHAt’s up everybody” Phichit spooks. Yuuri nearly jumps out of his skin and almost tumbles out of the bed. He gives Phichit the dirtiest of looks in the background as Phichit continues with the intro to his video.

“Can you tell the people what we’re doing today, Yuuri?” Phichit turns the camera back to Yuuri. He still looks annoyed by Phichit’s antics. Yuuri crosses his arms and frowns. 

“Finding a new roommate to bring back home so I can abandon you in an airport terminal somewhere?” Yuuri snarks.

Phichit remains unphased and continues on as if Yuuri supplied the correct answer, “That right! [inserted sounds of crowds cheering] This afternoon Yuuri and I were invited to a VIP masquerade here at VidCon. So tonight we’re going to get dolled up and rub elbows with people who have far more talent than either of us combined. Are you as excited as I am, Yuuri?” Phichit asks.

The shot zooms into Yuuri’s less than thrilled expression, “No.” 

“That’s the spirit! Now if you will excuse us, we need to get decent.” Phichit winks at the camera. The camera quickly spins to the left and in the transition, Yuuri and Phichit reappear in their suits and masks as if they never moved. Yuuri is again cross-legged on the bed with his Switch out. No doubt it took Phichit far longer to get ready, leaving Yuuri to wait around while Phichit primps and preens. 

“ _Yuuuuuriiiiii!_ Let’s go!” Phichit grabs Yuuri by the arm and drags him off the bed and out the door. 

[The scenes transition with some elegant slow motion b-roll shots set to some trendy royalty free music. Driving shot out the window of their Uber, photographers lining up behind the ropes of a red carpet with lights flashing away, masked guests posing and practically floating down the red carpet, a rotating video selfie of Yuuri and Phichit on this same red carpet as the flash of photographers continue taking pictures behind them]

“Yuuri,” Phichit pokes his roommate in the shoulder, “Next boba tea says that’s JJ Leroy.” Phichit points to the masked guest in a bright green and purple suit, flashing a signature ‘JJ’ sign with his hands at a group of photographers. The camera zooms in to show that even his mask had two J’s carved into both edges of his mask at the corner of the eyes. The shot cuts back to Yuuri in time to catch Yuuri looking over his shoulder to see the spectacle. 

“Pft.” Yuuri struggles to hold back his laughter. He doesn’t take the bet. Mama Katsuki didn’t teach her children to lose pointless bets, especially with boba tea on the line. 

For the rest of the video, Yuuri appearances are unusually scarce. Shortly after arriving Phichit finds Chris while Yuuri slinks off by himself to the bar. A good chunk of the video includes Chris and Phichit’s anonymous antics, Yuuri unexplainably nowhere in sight. 

The partying continues on and the shots and b-roll reflect that. The story continues on with a crowd forming around a specific point on the dancefloor. Phichit gasps when he realizes what the big hubbub is about. The camera cuts to an elegant couple dancing close enough that Phichit is probably running the risk of demonetization. One half of the pair is an elegant man in a half suit/half dress ensemble with a full face of flawless makeup, a Marie Antoinette wig piled high on top of his head, and a golden mask hiding his identity. The other half of the couple is none other than Yuuri Katsuki. 

“That’s my boy.” Phichit chokes up. Chris lets out a loud wolf whistle, egging on the pair. 

“ _Mon dieu_ , to be a fly in their bedroom tonight . . .” Chris comments scandalously.

Chris and Phichit continue to banter as they include as many fellow YouTubers in the vlog as possible. Chris starts up a drinking game in which they have to alternate guessing each newcomer’s identity with as few hints as possible. With every wrong guess, the guesser has to take a shot. 

By the end of the night, Phichit is hammered, Chris is drunk and handsy, and Yuuri is nowhere to be seen. The video ends with Phichit collapsing into bed with a slightly less drunk Chris’ assistance. Phichit mumbles out a rushed outro going through the usual script. Like, subscribe, smash, the whole drill. 

 

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Pinned by Phichit Chulanot

**Phichit Chulanot** ✔ 30 minutes ago

UPDATE: Hey guys I know a lot of people are asking about Yuuri. Rest assured he’s safe and only slightly hung over. That’s all he wants me to share but just between me and you guys, all parties involved had a really great night ;) 

 

**PhiYuuStan953** 2 hours ago  

Lol I hope Yuuri is ok. Where did he go at the end?

367 likes 

    | **Banging 4 Pumpkins** 45 minutes ago

      To get the D. 

      69 likes

 

**Two Hoes Chillin in a Hotub** 6 hours ago

AHHHHH CHRIS IS FINALLY IN ONE OF PHICHIT’S VIDEOS! y’all should play never have I ever next time he comes on. Great video! 10/10 will stan again. 

523 likes

 

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* * *

 

Yuuri trudges into his and Phichit’s hotel room with his shoes in his hand at 7:24 am looking ready to crawl into his own grave. He is the picture perfect example of the walk of shame but for all the wrong reasons. 

_Why did I leave?_

Yuuri collapses into the bed face first into the pillow. The shower is running in the bathroom. Phichit must be up already. Yuuri just wants to crawl into bed and hide in his own embarrassed misery the rest of the day. 

Yuuri runs over the events in his head, trying to internally justify why he left. They had such a lovely night together last night, Vitya asked him to stay, Yuuri likely could have spent the morning basking in the morning afterglow with Vitya but something snapped in him and he had this overwhelming urge to escape back to normality. 

Earlier that morning, before he made his escape, he felt the bed shift beside him and the pressure and warmth of Vitya’s body left Yuuri’s side. Yuuri cracked his eye open and watched as Vitya walked over to the bathroom, his beautiful backside in its full morning glory. Yuuri remembers thinking that he can’t wait to see his frontside again when Vitya returns. 

It started off as a relatively nice morning. 

The sound of running water filters through the closed door and Yuuri sits up in their shared bed. Yuuri runs his hands along the rumpled sheets and wonders how in the world he wound up here. Neither of them was drunk the night before so Yuuri remembers clearly how he got here but he still wonders why in the world Vitya chose him out of everyone at that party. There’s no question that Vitya is way out of Yuuri’s league. Hell, he should count himself lucky if Vitya were to so much as send a sympathetic smile his way. 

What did he see in Yuuri? What was in it for him? 

Yuuri’s thoughts continued to spiral downwards until he convinced himself that Vitya was just looking for a convenient warm body to hold him and Yuuri just happened to be the one eager enough to offer. 

He hears the water shut off and his heart rate picks up with panic. His mind presents him with an ultimatum: leave now or suffer through the inevitable awkward exchange which ends in Vitya kicking him out anyway. Yuuri quickly throws on last night’s dress shirt and pants, gathers everything else in his arms, takes his mask, avoiding looking at the mocking golden mask and leaves the hotel room without a glance to the bathroom door. 

In hindsight, Yuuri let his mind run too wild. Vitya was a nice guy. He would have at least suffered through a bland conversation with Yuuri until he got the hint and left. But who is Yuuri to steal any more time with Vitya than he was already granted?

Yuuri wishes he at least asked Vitya his real name before he left. If last night’s spell had to be broken he wishes he could at least label the fond memory with a real name. 

But it was never meant to be, was it?

“Oh hey, you’re back!” Phichit greets, coming out of the bathroom to see a Yuuri lump has appeared on the bed during his absence. Yuuri lets out a pathetic noise that was muffled by the pillow pressed against his face. “What happened to you last night?” Phichit asks with concern, sitting down at the edge of the bed next to Yuuri. 

Yuuri lifts his head, “Don’t want to talk about it.” 

“Who do I have to kill?” Phichit prods, with a chilling sense of seriousness. 

“Me,” Yuuri sighs, sitting up in the bed and clutches a nearby pillow between his knees and against his chest, “I met this guy last night,”

“I noticed.” Phichit chimes in.

“We went back to his hotel room and we had a really fun night. He asked me to stay and I did but this morning when he went to go take a shower I ran. I panicked and ran.” Yuuri explains. Anger towards himself raising with each passing word. Now that he’s saying everything out loud, Yuuri feels childish and stupid. 

“What set you off?” Phichit sympathizes. 

“I don’t even know. I was just sitting there waiting for him to come back and I went down this spiral of inadequacy. I thought he would be disappointed in what he saw and regret last night if I stayed. Better to remain a mystery than to confront my insecurities, right? It’s probably better this way anyway. He’ll be able to find someone better than me in an instant.” Yuuri mopes. 

A soft wack hits the top of Yuuri’s head. Yuuri looks up in surprise to see that Phichit had hit him with a rolled up hotel guide. It wasn’t hard enough to hurt, just surprising enough to pull him out of his self-loathing. 

“What was that for?” Yuuri cries. 

“I’m tired of this woe is me, I don’t deserve nice things, attitude of yours. Did you even ask your bed buddy what he feels?”

“Wha-No.”

“Right. So you have no right to put words into his mouth. I get that you feel shitty for leaving but can you imagine for just a second that he might be feeling shitty that you left too? You ran off while he wasn’t looking. What sort of signal do you think that sends? He probably thought you two had a really nice night and was looking forward to spending more time with you only to come out of the shower that you grabbed your shit and fled without warning.” Phichit chastises. Yuuri's stomach fills with guilt because he knows Phichit is right.

“I know I fucked up alright? I thought as my friend you’d be a little more supportive.” Yuuri defends, feeling a little attacked by Phichit’s attitude right now. His words sting if only because the rational part of Yuuri knows deep down that he’s right. He fucked up. 

“Being your friend doesn’t mean I have to hold your hand and coddle you through terrible decisions. I can be your friend and call you out on your bullshit.” Phichit defends with his arms crossed. Yuuri clutches the pillow closer to his chest and tries to push away the embarrassed tears. Phichit sighs and shifts closer to Yuuri and pulls him into a warm hug. 

“Who was he? I never got a good look at him.” Phichit asks. 

Yuuri shrugs, “I never found out. We used aliases all night.”

“Kinky.”

“He was so pretty, Phichit.” Yuuri whines. 

“How was the sex?” Phichit asks. Yuuri lets out a quiet pained whimper which Phichit takes as Yuuri’s answer. “Hot.”

Yuuri groans and flops down onto the bed in frustration. He really fucked up, didn’t he?

Phichit leans over Yuuri and gently prods his face with his index finger, “What?” Yuuri groans. 

“Do you remember what your lover man looks like, maybe we can still find him. Chris and I were filming all night, maybe between our footage we can sleuth out who your mystery man was.” Phichit offers. Yuuri considers it for a brief moment and shakes his head. 

“Thanks for the offer but I don’t think I can face him again,” Yuuri says. What would he even say if he ever found Vitya again? _Sorry I ran, can I get a mulligan_? It’s probably easier for everyone involved if he just forgot this whole thing even happened. Vitya’s a handsome man, his pride might be stung this morning but soon enough another Eros will come around to make him forget about Yuuri. Yuuri isn’t all that memorable to begin with anyway. 

“Okay, you’re an adult so I won’t push you on it. I’m leaving to go to breakfast with Chris, would you like to come or are you going to sulk for a while and meet me at the convention center later?” Phichit asks. The tone in his voice tells Yuuri that staying in the hotel room all day isn’t going to be an option unless he wants Phichit to storm in and physically pull him out. 

Breakfast does sound nice, especially with the distracting company of Phichit and Chris. 

“I don’t want to be a third wheel,” Yuuri hesitates. The last thing he wants is to interrupt the other two. Phichit has been talking about meeting Chris at VidCon for months. Just because Yuuri’s morning turned sour doesn’t mean he should get in the way of Phichit getting to know his well established YouTube crush. 

“Nonsense! I think Chris is trying to rope in a third wheel too so don’t worry about it. We’ll be a functioning gay trash mobile in no time.” Phichit encourages. 

“I guess I could eat . . .” Yuuri relents. Phichit's face breaks into a bright beam of sunshine. He reaches over, grabs Yuuri’s hands and pulls him out of bed. 

“Excellent! Now go get ready. You reak of sex and shame.” Phichit insists, shoving Yuuri into the bathroom. Yuuri doesn’t dare disagree with Phichit and does what he’s told. Behind closed doors, Yuuri gives himself an experimental sniff to find that, yes, he still smells faintly like Vitya’s cologne. That all washes away after a quick shower. Yuuri emerges from the bathroom feeling slightly refreshed. At the very least he’s not walking around smelling like last night’s activities. 

It’s a new day. He has a lot of regrets about how he handled this morning but if he moves on like nothing happened maybe all of this will just magically fade into the background. 

Phichit is quick to rush Yuuri out the door, probably hoping he won’t change his mind at the last moment. They take the elevator down to the hotel lobby. When the doors open, Yuuri spots a flash of silver hair walking through the lobby that sends his heart rate soaring through the roof but as quickly as he saw it, it was gone. With the size of the hotel, it was likely someone else and not Vitya but this moment serves as a painful reminder that Vitya is staying in this same building. It might be harder than Yuuri thought to avoid confronting him. 

Phichit carries on, oblivious to Yuuri’s minor heart attack. They exit the hotel and continue walking down the street to a cute little brunch place two blocks from their hotel. Chris isn’t there when they arrive so the server leaves them at an empty table with a few extra menus. 

Yuuri looks disinterestedly at the menu choices. The moment in the lobby successfully chased away all appetite Yuuri had. Yuuri has to internally tell himself that everything is fine. It was probably just a figment of his imagination. There’s very little chance that was Vitya in the lobby this morning. 

“Oh look! Friends!” Phichit exclaims when he sees Chris walk into the front door of the restaurant. Yuuri’s blood runs cold when a tall silver-haired man walks in behind him, his eyes obscured by dark sunglasses. 

_No. It can’t be . . ._

Yuuri holds out hope that he’s mistaken but that hope is quickly squashed. Phichit waves them over to their table and they both make their way over. The closer, Chris’ friend comes the more Yuuri starts to be able to recognize his features as the same as Vitya’s. He doesn’t need to see Vitya’s icy blue eyes to know that they’re fixed intently on Yuuri. 

_This can’t be happening._

Then it hits him like a freight train: _Vitya_ is Victor fucking Nikiforov. King of the online beauty community, Victor Nikiforov. Yuuri's biggest celebrity crush, Victor Nikiforov. 

He feels like a fool for not realizing it before but Yuuri never got a good look at him in proper lighting. In the bright California morning light, there’s no mistaking Vitya’s true identity. 

Yuuri slept with Victor _fucking_ Nikiforov. 

“Fuck me.” Yuuri subconsciously slips out. The entire group turns to look at Yuuri for his outburst. The family with arguably too many children under the age of five seated behind them shoots Yuuri a dirty look of which he has the decency to look apologetic. 

“Chris, you’ve met my verbose friend before. This is Yuuri.” Phichit introduces since clearly, Yuuri lacks the verbal skills at the moment to do it himself. 

“Victor,” Victor reaches out to shake Phichit’s hand before extending the same to Yuuri. Yuuri reluctantly takes Victor’s hand, probably looking like the man just asked him to hold a snake, “But I’m guessing your friend here just figured it out.”

“Forgive him, he’s usually a lot more charming.” Phichit defends. Victor purses his lips. 

“I’m sure he is,” Victor says almost accusingly. Yuuri winces. The words are harsh and clearly meant just for him. But what else does Yuuri expect? Victor’s feelings were hurt this morning too. 

Phichit stands up and embraces Chris in a friendly hug, “Well I’m glad we were able to meet up again, Chris. Last night was crazy.” 

“I’ll second that,” Vitya speaks up, his gaze still fixed on Yuuri. In one smooth movement, he takes off his sunglasses and hooks it to his deep v neck shirt. If Yuuri weren’t so petrified he’s sure he’d be admiring. 

“Victor here, unfortunately, had to bow out from the masquerade last night,” Chris explains as the two men take a seat across from Yuuri and Phichit. Vitya takes a seat directly across from Yuuri. Vitya’s careful calculating gaze is fixed on Yuuri as if to decode the Yuuri in front of him now from the Eros he knew the night before.

“I’m sorry I missed it. I had to deal with some unexpected personal business. I wish I could have been there. It seems like it was a night to remember.” Victor lies through his teeth. His eyes flash back to Yuuri, daring him to call him out. 

"I just have to say, Victor, we're such big fans of your work," Phichit says when a lull falls on the table.

Yuuri is caught between a rock and a hard place. He knows he should act like a normal human being, make conversation somehow but at the same time Victor Nikiforov is sitting in front of him, a man he's admired since he discovered YouTube as a teen, a man Yuuri coincidentally seduced and left dry earlier this morning. Yuuri's never been in this situation before and it's likely no one ever has, so forgive him if common human decency falls to the wayside.

"We?" Victor raises an eyebrow. 

“Yeah, Yuuri and I. We love your channel,” Phichit answers, giving Yuuri pointed looks to join in. Yuuri’s tongue feels like its full of lead. 

“Oh?” Victor raises an eyebrow, “Are you two together?” He asks. 

“No!” Yuuri answers perhaps a little too loudly, and a little too emphatically, once again drawing the attention of the table to himself. 

“No, we’re just roommates,” Phichit adds, with a lot more poise and dignity than Yuuri’s panicked shouting. Victor nods and eyes Yuuri carefully. 

“So, _Yuuri_ ,” Victor sets his sights on Yuuri and leans forward in his seat. “Tell me what it is you like so much about me.” Underneath the table, Yuuri feels Victor’s leather shoes brush against the side of his leg. 

“I-” Yuuri stutters but is miraculously saved by their waitress. 

“Hi y’all! My name’s Kathryn and I’m going to be your server today. What can start everyone off with?” She asks pleasantly unaware that she interrupted such an awkward and tense moment at the table. It’s a welcome reprieve however short it may be. She goes around the table taking everyone’s drink orders

“Just tea please,” Yuuri answers when it gets to his turn. He keeps his head down to avoid revealing how red his cheeks are. He wants to escape but there’s no escape in sight. He might be able to fake an illness and run away like a coward but how far is that really going to get him? Phichit will worry and check on him later and will eventually discover the ruse. Victor probably already knows Yuuri is looking for any way out of this awkward encounter. 

“Same,” Victor answers bluntly. 

Kathryn bounces away to retrieve their drinks and Yuuri is eternally grateful for her. The topic before she arrived is effectively dropped and the conversation turns to plans for VidCon for the day. Kathryn comes back with a tray full of steaming mugs. Coffee for Chris, and three cups of breakfast tea for the rest of the table. 

Yuuri watches with curiosity as Victor reaches across the table to the stack of jams that sat next to the salt and pepper shakers and his expression turns to horror when Victor proceeds to spoon the strawberry jam into his tea. 

“What?” Victor pauses with his teacup to his lips. Phichit and Chris are off in their own little world engrossed in their own conversation, leaving Victor and Yuuri in their own little awkward bubble. 

“You - did you just put jam in your tea?” Yuuri asks dumbfounded. 

“Does it offend you?” Victor raises an eyebrow. 

“A little, yeah.” Yuuri answers. The corner of Victor’s lips curls up in a ghost of a genuine smile. 

“What’s that American saying?” Victor asks, taking another jam packet, pulling open the peel and spooning the strawberry jam into Yuuri’s own tea, “Don’t knock it until you try it.” Victor winks. 

Yuuri looks down at his tea with a mix of horror and amusement. What a big dick energy move. Yuuri would know. 

Victor doesn’t leave Yuuri any other choice than to try the sacrilegious tea. Yuuri swallows his pride and takes a sip of his now sweet and fruity tea. It’s not bad, it just goes against every bone in his body to drink it. 

Victor chuckles at whatever face Yuuri must be making, “I’m not sure if it’s just a Russian thing but I have a sweet tooth and my mother used to stir jam into my tea to get me to drink it. I suppose old habits die hard.” Victor reveals with a soft look in his eyes. 

“Victor . . . I’m sorry,” Yuuri whispers setting down his cup of tea. Yuuri looks over to the other pair to see they were still blissfully unaware of the moment Yuuri and Victor were having. 

“Why? She’s still alive and well. We talk often.” Victor says, clearly misunderstanding what Yuuri was apologizing for. 

“No, not about that. I’m sorry about earlier. I was inconsiderate and wrong.” Yuuri whispers. Understanding flickers in Victor’s eyes. 

“Ah,” Victor purses his lips. “Yuuri, let’s talk about this later. I don’t think this is the time or place.” Victor whispers. 

Yuuri bows his head and rubs his neck uncomfortably, “I know, I know. I just wanted to put that out there in case you thought otherwise.”

“Thank you,” Victor says, placing his hand over Yuuri’s. Yuuri looks up to Victor and is caught in his sincere gaze. There’s an unspoken eagerness in Victor’s eyes, an unspoken message: _This conversation isn’t over._

Victor’s thumb softly rubs circles across the back of Yuuri’s hand, “Come back to my room tonight. We can talk then.” Victor implores softly. 

Yuuri is both relieved and overcome with dread all at the same time. On one hand, it doesn’t seem like Victor completely hates him for leaving but on the other, he knows whatever ‘talk’ they have tonight won’t be entirely pleasant either. Yuuri’s going to have to explain himself and the feelings he had that made him want to leave. He knows he owes Victor at least that much. 

But what benefit does Victor see to continue pursuing Yuuri? Sure, they ran into each other again through their mutual friends and that was hella awkward but that doesn’t entitle Yuuri to a second chance. 

“Why me?” Yuuri asks. 

“Why not you?” Victor shoots back. Yuuri doesn’t have the time to press further before a group of young teenage girls cautiously approach their table. Victor is quick to subtly pull back the hand holding Yuuri’s own. Yuuri finds that he immediately misses the warmth and pressure of Victor’s hand against his. 

“Hi, I’m sorry but are you Victor Nikiforov?” One of the girl’s asks. Victor puts on a charming smile that seems forced from where Yuuri was sitting. It’s not painfully obvious that his charming demeanor is an act but it’s hard to see especially when Yuuri’s caught glimpses of Victor’s warm carefree smile that’s a little lopsided and has a heart-shaped curve. The smile he gives these girls is nowhere close to the smile Yuuri’s seen behind closed doors in the few hours that he’s known the man. 

“I am,” Victor answers confidently, knowing full well what comes next. 

“Oh my god! I love your channel so much! Can you sign my Aria palette?” She asks, practically bursting with joy. Victor nods, giving the girls an encouraging smile. The girls giggle and twitter as she pulls out Victor’s signature eyeshadow palette from her trendy cat shaped backpack. She hands Victor the well-loved palette and a sharpie. Victor signs it as if he’s done it a million times before and hands it back to her. 

“Would you two like a selfie?” Victor offers kindly. 

“Please? That would be so cool!” She agrees. Victor rises from his seat and poses for a photo with his fans. The girls walk away happily with a newly signed Aria palette and a selfie to show all their friends. 

Victor sits back down in his seat with a sigh.

“Does that happen often?” Yuuri asks. 

Chris chuckles across the table, “ _Cherie_ , whenever I go anywhere with this man I’m practically relegated to being his personal photographer, mind you, my sub count isn’t insignificant either.” 

“Does it get old, being recognized so often?” Phichit asks. 

“Don’t get me wrong,” Victor begins, “I love my fans and I love being able to meet them but it's hard to go out in public without being recognized. I don’t think I could ever just go out anymore in sweatpants and messy hair to shove a sloppy greasy burger in my mouth.” 

Chris scoffs, “As if you would ever.” 

“But I’d like to have the option!” Victor defends. Yuuri is reminded of the night before when Vitya was confiding in Yuuri at the bar that he never felt like he had the opportunity to be anonymous anymore.  Yuuri's heart aches for the man, knowing how much Vitya craved to regain a sliver of his private life back. 

“What’s stopping you?” Yuuri asks. The rest of the table turns and looks at him like he grew three heads. “What? Why should he care what anybody else thinks? Just because he makes his living off of makeup doesn’t mean he has to be flawless every waking moment. You’re still human, Victor.” Yuuri defends. 

Chris chuckles, “Oh sweet Yuuri, if only the world worked that way.” 

Phichit shrugs and takes Yuuri’s side, “I don’t know if Mila Babicheva can show up in one video snatched to the high heavens and in the next video wear no makeup whatsoever on a whim, who’s to say Victor can’t put down the brush on his day off?” 

“Let’s not pretend Mila isn’t a unicorn. She could shit gold and the internet would applaud her for it. Her MO is just to do crazy bullshit that no one else wants to do or even thinks to do. I doubt her fans care if she bothers to slap on winged eyeliner for every video.” Victor vents. 

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you sound jealous,” Chris says leaning his head in his hands with the biggest shit eating grin. 

“I’ve known Mila for ages, I adore her but yes I admit sometimes I am jealous that she can get away with taking breaks,” Victor admits. 

“No one seemed to complain about your appearance on SnapChat this morning.” Chris points out. Yuuri interest piques. He hadn’t seen anything on Victor’s social media accounts this morning but then again Yuuri hasn’t had time to flip through any of his social media feeds this morning. 

“What happened this morning?” Yuuri asks, looking at Victor, wondering when he had time to post anything. 

“This sly dog over here got caught some tail last night, god knows how. He posted a Snap this morning in bed looking like a hot mess. His fans are going crazy trying to figure out who his new boy toy is.” Chris explains.

“ _What?_ ” Yuuri freezes.

Chris pulls out his phone and pulls up his Twitter account to show Yuuri, “I woke up this morning to find that our dear Victor here was trending on Twitter and lo and behold when I went on the tag, half the world was already talking about his mystery man and who he might be. You can’t really see his face but you know that won’t stop people from guessing.” 

Chris pulls up a screenshot someone had posted of Victor’s SnapChat. In this screenshot, you can see the back of Yuuri’s head and bare shoulders in clear view. Yuuri’s blood runs cold and his eyes flash to Victor. At the very least Victor has the decency to look sorry. 

Victor posted this morning? While Yuuri was still there? Perhaps this isn’t so bad yet. Yuuri hasn’t seen an influx of notifications to his phone so he’s assuming that he wasn’t identifiable but knowing how rabid Victor’s fans can get it might be a mere matter of time. 

“I wonder who he is,” Yuuri hears Phichit wonder vaguely. 

“Care to share, Victor?” Chris teases, completely unaware that he was in the company of said new boy toy. 

“I deleted that video, Chris.” Victor defends, looking towards Yuuri as some sort of reassurance. He isn’t reassured though. Victor has millions upon millions of followers across all of his accounts. All it takes is one person to take a screenshot and this moment can circulate until the end of time until either his fans grow bored or Yuuri is identified. It might be only a matter of time before the entire world knows about their one-night stand. 

“Deleting a video doesn’t make it go away. You of all people should know that.” Chris chastises. 

“I don’t kiss and tell. I didn’t realize he was visible when I posted the Snap. If I had, I would have never posted it. I’m sorry Chris but this is staying between me and him,” Victor defends himself. Yuuri smiles slightly as a silent thanks. 

“Fine, you’re just worried I’ll snatch your new man out of your bed.” Chris pouts. 

“I’m sorry Chris. This is something I’m keeping close to my heart for now. Maybe one day I can introduce you two and we’ll all laugh about this.” Victor shuts down the conversation. The subject turns to more palatable topics. 

When no one is looking Victor mouths the words _I’m sorry_ in Yuuri’s direction. Yuuri frowns and turns his attention back to the conversation happening between Chris and Phichit. 

Yuuri supposes this must be Karma’s way of getting back at him. He has a reason to be sorry to Victor for running away without so much as a word and now Victor has his own reasons to be sorry to Yuuri for putting their intimate morning on the internet for the world to comment on. They’re on even ground now as far as Yuuri sees it. 

The rest of breakfast passes by uneventfully, well mostly uneventfully. Yuuri is still very much distracted by Victor’s presence across the table. If Yuuri is being honest he’s still just trying to process this whirlwind of a morning. It starts off with him waking up in the arms of a still-mysterious lover, running away when he leaves bed for a shower, sulks in bed over his knee jerk reaction to his anxiety, to meeting his mystery man again at a completely unrelated brunch. 

But where does all this go from here? He knows he’s supposed to sneak off and meet Victor again later tonight but what happens from there? They talk about the last twenty-four hours but then what? Have a passionate repeat of last night? Go their separate ways? Talk about the _future_?

No. Yuuri’s getting ahead of himself. Just because he slept with Victor once and he invited Yuuri back to his room to talk some more doesn’t mean there are wedding bells for them in the future. They’re from two entirely different worlds, not to mention that Yuuri lives in Detroit while Victor is very solidly established in southern California. Beyond this weekend, Yuuri has a hard time imagining any sort of future, despite how much he might want to. 

Before they can go their separate ways, Victor pulls Yuuri back while Phichit and Chris continue on towards the hotel. 

“Text me, okay?” Victor encourages, slipping a folded napkin into the palm of Yuuri’s hand with his number neatly written in blue pen, “I want to see you again, Yuuri.” He whispers. Victor slides his hand into Yuuri’s and tangles his fingers with Yuuri’s own. 

“Tonight?” Yuuri confirms. 

Victor nods with a small smile, “Tonight.” He confirms. 

“We still need to talk, Victor,” Yuuri says. 

“I know. Tonight.” Victor promise with a soft squeeze to Yuuri’s hand. 

And as quickly as Victor’s hand was connected with Yuuri’s, it was gone. Yuuri watches with wistful sadness as Victor walks away to catch up with Chris and Phichit, each passing step brings Yuuri back closer to reality.

Tonight. He’ll see Victor again tonight. He and Victor may be on borrowed time but Yuuri is determined to make the most out of the time they have left. 

Even if after tonight Yuuri knows he has to end things.


End file.
